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There are continuing developments, mainly
good but some disappointing, following last year's Transport White Papers
[Spokes 70].
With nearly all transport responsibility moving to the Scottish Parliament,
please raise these issues with candidates, and then your new MSP [Factsheet1
for addresses].
Scottish
Public Transport Fund
The Scottish White Paper [Spokes 70] asked councils to draw up sustainable Local Transport Strategies. A 3-year £90m Public Transport Fund was announced, to which only councils with such Strategies will be allowed to apply.
Guidance on how councils bid for the Public Transport Fund has now been issued [SODD circular 22/1998]. Projects must aim primarily to "encourage use of public transport, reduce road traffic volumes, improve local environments; and work towards statutory targets for air quality; such projects could incorporate measures to facilitate cycling and walking as sustainable modes of transport".
This is a big improvement on the previous Tory Challenge Fund, much of which went to road construction, but its name and rules do not encourage councils to bid for schemes that are mainly or entirely walking/cycling. The first round of council bids is now in, and have very little on cycling, safe routes, etc, even as part of public transport packages.
In complete contrast, the government in England has now really succeeded in persuading councils to make walking, cycling, safe routes, etc, a major priority. Of some 90 successful transport funding package bids [LTT 1.1.99] over 70 included either cycling or Safe Routes to School measures (also many public transport measures).
This contrast is a big disappointment and failure by the Scottish Office. Particularly when Edinburgh has shown that cycle use can be increased, pedestrian casualties reduced, and shop takings boosted, by such investment. The Scottish Office has now produced a mechanism to cajole councils into taking public transport more seriously - but not walking and cycling.
The Scottish Office say advice to councils
on Local Transport Strategies will cover this [consultation
soon]. But advice is not enough, especially when funding messages
are mixed! The Public Transport Fund must be re-jigged now, to give
councils an immediate clear message to take walking and cycling seriously.
Please raise this with your MP!
Road
user charging
The government is consulting on workplace and road-user parking charges (England & Wales). 'Breaking the Logjam' [from DETR free literature, PO Box 236, Wetherby LS23 7NB] seeks replies by 31.3.99. A Scottish consultation will occur later, probably with similar ideas, and readers with English connections may wish to reply to both.
The big plus is the large revenue for sustainable transport.
Worryingly, however, there are calls for some/much of the money to go to road-building - this was even mentioned in the Scottish Transport White Paper [para 4.3.13]. There are also problems of diverting employment, shopping, traffic, etc, leading to longer journeys. e.g. a city toll or workplace charge may mean developers going out-of-town; motorway tolls may bring traffic to small roads, to the detriment of cyclists, residents, etc. The government has so far backed off from uniform national tolling/charging (perhaps with local top-ups), which could avoid such problems.
Very disappointingly, despite no serious argument against, the government is only planning workplace parking charges - not a charge on supermarkets for car-parking spaces. The excuse that workplace and road-toll experiments must come first is pathetic - Britain, even Scotland, is big enough for local experiments of all types! Councils are urging the government to think again [Guardian 15.10.98, LTT 17.12.98]. Meanwhile a new government report [The Impact of Large Foodstores on Town Centres, DETR 1998] shows town-centre losses up to 50% from out/edge-of-town developments.
Comments on the UK Climate Change consultation have to be in by 12 February [www.detr.gov.uk]. Spokes has called for policy to deliver substantial shifts to cycling, and allocation of petrol tax revenue to promote sustainable development in rural and urban areas [response now on Spokes web site].
We remain concerned that the government has not sent a clear message to councils who seek expensive and traffic-generating road projects [Spokes 69]. Current such proposals include Midlothian's planned dual A701 and the M74 extension [Glasgow Council and others].
Trunk road intentions are also unclear. The Labour Scottish Office made an excellent start [Spokes 69], cancelling a new Forth Road Bridge, and putting most other proposals into a (still ongoing) review. But despite the new 'integrated' transport and planning policy, trunk roads retain separate staffing, separate budget, and separate appraisals.
The recent Scottish Office consultation paper Appraisal of Trunk Road Investment is a backward move! [Spokes 70]. The Transport White Paper sought integration of modes, and of policies on health, land-use, environment, etc. Instead the paper takes road proposals as a starting point, then looks at the road's impact on other transport modes, contradicting a ministerial promise [letter to Spokes 19.9.97] that the Scottish Office will "fully consider alternatives to new roads".
Indeed, why trunk road appraisal at all? Surely it should be transport/accessibility appraisal? Surely, too, it should be conducted regionally, and should consider 'package' solutions using planning and traffic management in the whole catchment area, as well as public transport.
Meanwhile, two trunk-road announcements considered urgent have recently been made. The M8 decision, to cancel Tory plans for a 14-lane privately financed spaghetti-system between Baillieston-Newhouse, in favour of tackling safety and structural problems is very welcome (but was attacked by SNP, Liberals and Conservatives!). Worryingly, though, neither this nor the Kincardine Bridge decision seems to have been decided in an integrated way. If the Kincardine money was instead available to councils, to boost road safety and the local economy, would they spend it like this?
Also disturbing in light of the Traffic Reduction Act is the Minister's statement [SO 30.11.98] that Kincardine "will provide realistic additional road capacity ... in recognition of predicted future traffic increases". This also contradicts his earlier statement [Herald 1.8.98] that "the overall aim is to secure a modal shift from road to public transport"
Stop press: There
are welcome signs the trunk road review may be delayed pending a more integrated
assessment [Minister Calum MacDonald speech at SERA conference 23.1.99].
If so, we wonder if this stems from the widespread disappointment over
the trunk-road appraisal consultation paper - see above and Spokes
70!
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of page
Spokes 70 highlighted Dr Dunbar's government-funded scheme in Dundee to prescribe cycling instead of pills for appropriate heart, lung, diabetes, blood pressure and other patients. Now we hear of two other practices prescribing walking for the same purpose [Paths for All seminar, Dec 98].
Increasing numbers of GPs are taking the message to heart, doing their rounds by bike. Glasgow's Dr. Colin Guthrie is well known locally; and we really liked Dr Williams's recent article [British Medical Journal 19.12.98] with the above title. He has cycled over 100,000km on his London rounds, a quarter of the way to the moon.
"These innumerable short journeys have added up to an urban odyssey which has been not only highly efficient, but enjoyable ... it became increasingly unthinkable to return to the frustrating torpor of trying to use my car for the job ... the early euphoria of overtaking Jaguars and BMWs has fortunately worn off, although it remains an agreeable if rather repetitive experience ...
"Given the increasing clinical and epidemiological
evidence of the benefits of regular exercise, it is strange that so many
doctors still waste so much time crawling around cities imprisoned in their
cars ... if they tell their patients to exercise they could well attract
the fair retort 'Physician, wheel thyself.'"
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of page
Inspired by the government's Transport White Paper, which said "the way we travel is making us a less healthy nation", the Health Education Authority has published an excellent briefing paper for health professionals on linking transport and health issues [Transport and Health, HEA 0171.222.5300]. As well as traditional injury and pollution links, the briefing highlights links with the new government priorities of social inclusion, equity and environment.
It asks health authorities to set an example, highlighting a government call "that hospitals take the lead in changing travel habits. By the very nature of their work, hospitals should ... act responsibly on health issues. We would like to see all hospitals produce green transport plans".
This is now easier thanks to a manual for hospitals on how to implement green transport policies. The Healthy Transport Toolkit includes case studies of several very successful schemes [£20 Transport2000, 0171.388.8386].
Locally, health issues were one of the factors behind a joint Edinburgh Council / Chamber of Commerce green travel initiative. ECCE now has a green transport co-ordinator Caryll Paterson [477.7000] and an excellent guidebook for local companies, The Way to Work [£15].
Spokes member David represents us on a Lothian Health project to encourage physically active lifestyles. Send your ideas or suggestions: dleslie@bcs.org.uk or 441.5676. David also has an email list for interested online members.
The Scottish Office [News Release 4.11.98; details from 0131.244.0350] has allocated £26m for up to 60 Community Schools, to promote social inclusion and raise standards. One key aim is to encourage healthy lifestyles, and to raise awareness of safety issues. Education, health and transport professionals can link under this umbrella to work on safe and healthy school travel [article in this newsletter, also Safe Routes page on this website].
For years the 'road safety industry' and government officials were negative about encouraging cycling, insisting it would mean more deaths and injuries [Spokes 48 & 63]. Statistics were mis-used, forgetting that cyclists travel far fewer miles than motorists, that many cyclists are children, and the huge health benefits of cycling. How refreshing to re-read the 1991 paper Cycling in Safety? [J Morgan, Transport Research Lab], one of the first UK professional reports to give a more balanced picture.
John Morgan pointed out that though cycling per km in Britain is dangerous, cyclists have a slightly lower risk of death per year, compared to all travellers, and only a slightly higher risk of injury. He also pointed to European experience showing that safety could be improved hugely by deliberate policy, as in countries where cycling was 10 times safer per km than in Britain! [Now UK cities such as York have achieved increases in cycle use combined with big reductions in total cycle injuries: so much for the theory that more cycle use has to mean more injuries!]
He also emphasised the health benefits of cycling; though how great they are only became apparent later "Even in the current hostile traffic environment, the benefits gained from regular cycling were likely to outweigh the loss of life through cycling accidents for the population of regular cyclists. One calculation has shown the ratio to be around 1:20" [Road Transport and Health, British Medical Assn 1997].
Health and Safety experts have rightly highlighted the hazards of industries like coal mining. Strangely, work-related driving has never been considered a work hazard. Yet a driver covering just 25.000 miles a year as part of their job has almost the same risk of work-related death as a coal miner! [Managing Occupational Road Risk, RoSPA 1998]
Deaths involving vehicles driven for work purposes are "a hidden epidemic which increases the figure for work-related deaths between 3 and 4 times". Crashes involving 'at work' driving also result in 800-1000 UK road deaths a year, including many of cyclists and pedestrians. [See diary page for 24 March conference on these issues].
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